Washington, D.C.

Cloud & OnPrem Sessions

Monday, June 12th 2023, 9:00 am

  • Susan Hanley

    Microsoft MVP & MBA

Information Architecture for SharePoint Intranets and Viva Connections in Microsoft 365

In this workshop, you will learn tips and best practices to improve “findability” and information organization and the basic concepts of information architecture. You will learn how about Microsoft Viva and how it should influence your IA planning. We will cover the critical aspects of IA: navigation/site architecture, page design, metadata architecture, and planning search experiences. You will learn approaches for planning navigation across the entire intranet and on individual sites, along with tips and best practices for audiences, hubs, and home sites; page architectures that support accessibility and great user experiences; and using metadata on pages and documents. Take away lessons about the best place to focus your IA energy and how to leverage the latest IA capabilities in Microsoft 365 – so that you can build an intranet that is an essential part of your digital workplace today and in the future. Check out my workshop preview: https://youtu.be/3s3o6-Bgq_4

Monday, June 12th 2023, 9:00 am

  • Jay Leask

    Microsoft MVP & PMP
  • Joy Apple

    Microsoft MVP

Deploying M365 to Solve Business Problems

Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, Planner, Lists, OneDrive, the Power Platform, Viva (and its 72 modules). Microsoft 365 has stepped away from "deploying SharePoint" and into a full suite of technical capabilities designed to solve any problem. But how do we know what business problems we’re truly being asked to solve? Now that "ship it and forget it" is off the table (or should be), how do we define successful deployment of M365 capabilities? With a definition of success, how do we ensure that what the business is asking for will actually solve their problems? How do we build mutual respect so the business will listen to our recommendations on how technology can best meet their needs? Do our recommendation work? We know you are attending a technology conference but if you want the technology to work for you and your organization you must take a Human First approach to deploying Microsoft 365. Join us for the first day of your conference to explore how to ensure you are solving for the right problems, and then spend the next four days learning how the technology can solve them for you. During this session Joy and Jay will help you understand why M365 has changed how we deploy technology: - Consequences of Shadow IT - How IT as a service provides a framework for success - How to engage with the business - A holistic approach to requirements gathering - Defining success - Embracing "it's never done" as a good thing Check out our workshop preview: https://youtu.be/abXmtkuazHY

Tuesday, June 13th 2023, 9:00 am

  • Sarah Haase

    Microsoft MVP

Microsoft 365 User Adoption Master Class

A smooth deployment isn't enough. Driving effective utilization of SharePoint and Microsoft 365 is more than building effective migration strategies, training users on key features or sending out marketing emails. This master class provides a deep-dive on the components of user adoption. You'll learn why user adoption programs succeed and fail, gain practical experience designing adoption strategies and learn how to leverage innovation games to build consensus. During this workshop, you will: - Learn the basic foundations of user adoption, including key intrinsic and extrinsic motivators - Understand how different types of users in your organization can make (or break) your chances of user adoption success - Understand how innovation games can help drive shared understanding, uncover user requirements and drive engagement/enthusiasm - Examine real-world user adoption programs and determine how and why they were successful

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 11:30 am

  • Alex Terentiev

    Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft

Microsoft 365 PnP for SharePoint Framework Developer

The SharePoint Framework (SPFx) is a development model for building solutions across Microsoft 365 suite. It allows building applications for SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Viva Connections. But the additional beauty of SPFx is the community support! This session will cover resources that Microsoft 365 PnP Community provides for SPFx developers.

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 11:30 am

  • Daniel Glenn

    Microsoft MVP

Build your first Power BI dashboard

Creating compelling reports is an important skill in our data-centric world. Have you seen a nice-looking report or dashboard and wondered how you can get started creating one? Are you interested in learning how to create a Power BI dashboard, from simple data to actionable intelligence? Then this session is for you! In this session, we will talk about the building blocks of Power BI, look at different types of data you can use, and define what makes a good dashboard. You will learn when to use Power BI Desktop and when you need the Power BI service. We will also discuss how you can safely share Power BI insights inside and outside of your organization. You will leave this session with the resources you need to get started in your journey with Power BI.

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 11:30 am

  • Wes Preston

    Microsoft MVP

Intro to Power Apps for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Lists

If you create business solutions with SharePoint lists If you surface information and solutions via Microsoft Teams or SharePoint If you're concerned with the potential complexity of Power Apps This session will show why Power Apps canvas apps should be considered part of your toolset. We will cover: - Simple extensions of the SharePoint list experience with Power Apps - How to take data from SharePoint lists to Teams and mobile experiences - Power Apps examples that bring immediate value and set the stage for further enhancements

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 1:40 pm

  • Bobby Chang

    Power Platform Global Black Belt at Microsoft

Automate Your Way with RPA

Let's demystify Robotic Process Automation (RPA)! This session will focus on how to automate legacy web and client applications using Power Automate. We'll demonstrate how to leverage Desktop flow with Power Automate Desktop, and how/when/why you would combine desktop automation with Power Platform connectors and AI to provide end-to-end workflow solutions for your organization.

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 1:40 pm

  • Nate Chamberlain

    Microsoft MVP & MCT

Goodbye, TwoNote: A OneNote refresher

OneNote is consolidating from two separate apps (Win 10 and desktop versions) to a single version, based on the desktop version (i.e. OneNote 2016). In this session we'll reintroduce ourselves to OneNote, learn some exciting tips and tricks along with business use ideas, and discuss what's new and what's coming for OneNote.

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 3:30 pm

  • Julie Turner

    Microsoft MVP

An Introduction to Atomic React Component Design in SPFx and Beyond

When programming with ReactJS, which is a common choice when developing using the SharePoint Framework, how you architect your components can often be confusing. This introductory session will walk through designing your components to mirror a common design principle called "Atomic Design" which was invented by web designer Brad Frost. This design pattern breaks web design into small chunks that when combined build beautiful solutions with reusability at its core. We'll go into how to translate that design principle into component development which can help reduce code size, improve reliability and quality, and just make your life easier. As part of our examples, we'll be leveraging the HTWOO community built Fluent UI framework.

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 3:30 pm

  • Marc D Anderson

    Microsoft MVP

Does Information Architecture Matter Anymore?

With all the machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) available in Microsoft 365 these days, do we still need to think about information architecture? Can automation fulfil the promise of reducing the load on information architects and developers? In this session, we’re review some of the better practices for constructing a powerful information architecture and why it still matters. We’ll look at real-world examples and talk about what automation can and can’t do for you. Technology is evolving quickly, so expect to see a few tidbits you don't expect, as well as healthy doses of reality.

Wednesday, June 14th 2023, 3:30 pm

  • Karuana Gatimu

    Principal Manager, Customer Advocacy Group Microsoft Teams Engineering

Getting started in Microsoft: Training, Tools and Networking

Are you new to the Microsoft ecosystem? Join us in the session to learn all that Microsoft has to offer for career development and satisfaction. It's a vibrant, large community with many tools and programs that are free. Let us help you get the most from the resources that exist.

Thursday, June 15th 2023, 9:00 am

  • Daniel Christian

    Microsoft MVP & MCT

Why Should I Consider Using Power Automate for Desktop?

While we do live in a cloud-first, desktop-first technology era, there are still several home-grown or legacy applications that are still being used. They do not have an API for cloud-based services to leverage and hence we need a robotic process automation (RPA) system that can fill in the gap. Join Daniel Christian, a Microsoft MVP and certified trainer as he introduces you to Power Automate for desktop.

Thursday, June 15th 2023, 10:40 am

  • Tamara Bredemus

    Learning Strategist Manager & Adoption Specialist at Planet Technologies

Content Types: Easier Than the Theory of Relativity

Everyone talks about them, but what the heck are they and how can I use them? We will start with some demos of how to use custom content types, then on to what the heck are content types anyway and we will end with another demo to build content types in the browser. Key Takeaways: 1) What are content types? 2) Planning content types 3) Creating site columns 4) Creating content types 5) Using content types

Thursday, June 15th 2023, 10:40 am

  • Prashant G Bhoyar

    Microsoft MVP & MCT

ChatGPT, Azure Open AI and Power Platform: Better Together

With ChatGPT, other large language models and generative AI has caught the attention of global consumers, enterprises, and c-suite. In this demo-driven session, we will cover the key concepts and how organizations can use ChatGPT, Azure Open AI, and Power Platform services to build next-gen enterprise-grade applications. We will cover : * Azure Open AI Key Concepts * ChatGPT key concepts * Co-Pilots in the Power Platform * How can fusion teams take advantage of Azure Open AI, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Power Platform? * How organizations can build next-gen enterprise-grade apps using ChatGPT, Azure OpenAI, and Power Platform services?

Thursday, June 15th 2023, 10:40 am

  • Andy Sulak

    Vice President of Business Development at LAE Software

Getting to the Good Stuff: How to Remove Roadblocks to Your M365 Adoption

Microsoft continues to add more features and offerings to its M365 platform, but existing legacy systems, software, and processes stand in the way. Many IT organizations are just trying to catch up on the project list before anything new can be implemented from the M365 suite. This session will focus on real-world examples of this technical debt and how to get your M365 initiatives “unstuck” for rolling out or expanding the use of Teams, OneDrive, Viva, SharePoint, Power Apps, and others.

Thursday, June 15th 2023, 10:40 am

  • Olivia Stewart

    Senior SharePoint Architect
  • Scott Money

    Director of Operations at DocPoint Solutions

Migrating your content to SharePoint Online

This session will cover 3 examples of migrating content to an M365 tenant (also applicable to SharePoint OnPrem). 1) Network drive to SharePoint OnPrem or SharePoint OnLine - Maybe your server infrastructure has aged and there are requirements to move that data to a searchable platform. Let's walk through an example of tackling this challenge with multiple options as simple as moving just documents or more elaborate paths incorporating directory structure as metadata in the destination. 2) SharePoint OnPrem to OnPrem – Not all entities are committed to moving all content into a cloud-based platform such as M365. Governance may come into play which leads to a more basic move to an updated platform and often no re-architecture. In this case we can consider moving some tasks such as forms and automation to a cloud-based solution which can alleviate efforts with a future migration to M365. 3) SharePoint On-Prem to SharePoint OnLine - The migration path many are executing every day is to the M365 platform. In this path, considerations for re-architecture will be reviewed as best practices point towards a flat architecture as opposed to vertical. 3rd party apps ? make sure there is a compatible path when moving to the cloud platforms. We will share the challenges we have experienced with each of these examples that can help you plan an efficient move to your next platform.

Thursday, June 15th 2023, 1:20 pm

  • Mike Fitzmaurice

    Vice President of North America at WEBCON

Building Business Processes that Can & Will Evolve: Product-Neutral Principles

Far more than data management apps, workflow solutions need to factor in the need for frequent change. You should expect even the best-designed models and applications to be regularly modified -- and that's a good thing. This has an impact on how to design processes, how to create forms and reports, how to connect to external data, and how to maintain internal data. This session will talk about reasons why workflow solutions need to be modified so often, why you should embrace this, and strategies and tactics for addressing it. Its advice can be applied to Microsoft Power Automate (Flow), SharePoint Designer, WEBCON BPS, FireStart, Nintex, K2, or most anything else.

Thursday, June 15th 2023, 4:30 pm

  • Asif Rehmani

    Microsoft MVP

Design blended learning solutions for your organization

Classroom training by itself is not enough. It wasn't enough before COVID and it's definitely not enough or even possible many times post COVID. Employees are in hybrid environments spending time at home and office as required. There isn't a single learning delivery solution that by itself can provide the appropriately needed learning and support for our Microsoft 365 users wherever they are. This session will dig into the learning technology models combining macrolearning and contextual microlearning that works! We will see real life examples of solutions deployed by many major corporations around the world on how to structure blended learning for your organization in the new normal.

Friday, June 16th 2023, 9:00 am

  • Nate Chamberlain

    Microsoft MVP & MCT

How well do you know the Microsoft 365 desktop apps? 70 min of tips & ideas to wow your co-workers

There's more to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote than what immediately meets the eye. In this session, we're not learning the basics - we're learning the lesser-known gems and useful tools tucked away inside these common apps. We'll cover topics including image background removal, small app settings that make a big difference, cross-app integrations, illustrations vs images, Rehearse with Coach, and much, much more. Note: This will be based on the Microsoft 365 version (not 2019 or earlier) of the Office desktop apps. While there will be some cross-over, there are features that will be covered that are exclusive to the most up-to-date version.

Friday, June 16th 2023, 12:30 pm

  • Asif Rehmani

    Microsoft MVP

All that you ever wanted to know about Microsoft 365 learning pathways

Are your employees utilizing Microsoft 365 to the fullest? Do they have the training and support needed to be successful in their job? Microsoft 365 Learning Pathways is a Microsoft-built solution you can deploy to your tenant, today, for free. It creates an adoption and training center that showcases dynamic, always up-to-date content from Microsoft to support training and adoption for your end users. You can also customize it to fit the exact needs of your organization by incorporating your own training content and highlighting your events. Come to the session and I will show you how you can deploy and get the best use out of the content from Microsoft 365 learning pathways.

Friday, June 16th 2023, 12:30 pm

  • Julie Turner

    Microsoft MVP

Building 'NPM' style code libraries for use with SharePoint Framework

The SharePoint framework introduced libraries as a project type, and although useful for very small development projects not ideal for bigger enterprise solutions and ALM strategies. This session is going to cover end to end building a library with standard web-based building blocks, using Azure Dev Ops to create a private NPM package, and then consuming that library and others together within a SharePoint framework solution while hosting the artifacts in an Azure CDN. This is powerful reusability that allow you to manage the lifecycle of different components in a way that mimics all the other packages you might consume when building your solution.

Friday, June 16th 2023, 12:30 pm

  • Marc D Anderson

    Microsoft MVP

Building a Policy Center with PnP Modern Search

In a modern Intranet, we generally want to store content in the site where it should be managed. We think of this as distributed content management and it's similar to the way News works in modern SharePoint. This usually means each department or organizational unit can manage their content using a process which makes sense for them. At the same time, we may want to roll up that content in one central location for ease of access. A Policy Center is a great example of this approach and one we find ourselves building for many of our clients. In this session, you'll see how the following components add up to make a Policy Center: - Information architecture (IA) in the form of Site Columns and a Content Type to represent a Policy - A Site Template which only instantiates a Policy library in the site and applies the IA - A Policy library in each Intranet site, deployed using the Site Template, with Policies specific to that department - Changes to the search schema to support metadata filtering - A Policy Center page built using PnP Modern Search Web Parts to display the Policies from across the Intranet Additionally, we'll discuss various approaches to solve the content management puzzle - before the Policy is even visible on the Intranet.

Friday, June 16th 2023, 1:50 pm

  • Mike Fitzmaurice

    Vice President of North America at WEBCON

Stages and State Machines: The Ideal Way to Model and Manage Workflows

If you've heard of Power Automate Business Process Flows; they're an implementation of stage/state machine logic available to companies with Premium licensing. SharePoint Designer 2013 supported stages, and third-party options range from emulation (Nintex) to engine-level support (WEBCON). This session will start by explaining how stage-based designs and processes work, move on to why they're often far better than classic sequential flowcharts, and conclude with examples of how to build and run such solutions. It's the most useful workflow "secret" you can possibly learn.

Friday, June 16th 2023, 1:50 pm

  • Asif Rehmani

    Microsoft MVP

5 steps for driving sustainable Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint user adoption

Why do so many people resist changing their ways? It's not because Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint are bad platforms - quite the contrary actually - it's because of their past experiences with change in technology. Change Management is hard. No doubt about it! In this session, we will talk about the 5 proven things You can do to make your users fall in Love with Microsoft 365 and drive end user adoption of the platform.